Get a sense of Queens Botanical Garden's past and how both the 1939 and 1964 New York World's Fairs influenced the Garden's development. This exhibit is created largely from the Garden's own archives with images that illustrate these important events in New York City's history.

In celebration of the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the World’s Fairs, Tomorrow’s World will include never before exhibited vintage images from the Parks Photo Archive and private collections that illustrate the dynamic evolution and conversion of a vast industrial wasteland into New York City's fourth largest park. The World’s Fairs propelled this transformation, while serving as defining social and cultural events for two generations. The show will also include memorabilia, as well as two zodiac animals from Paul Manship’s vandalized Armillary Sphere from the second fair.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (212) 360-8163.

In homage to the beauty of the botanical world's most bizarre flora, the New York Botanical Garden invited members of the American Society of Botanical Artists to participate in a study of the eccentric, creating works of art based on visually unusual plants chosen by the artists themselves.

View the results of their efforts, 46 captivating paintings and illustrations of exotic specimens, on display in the Ross Gallery.

Learn how to keep trees happy and healthy with the NYC Compost Project hosted at Build It Green!NYC!

Help prepare local tree beds along the Vernon Boulevard bike lane in Long Island City for the hot summer months ahead. We'll be weeding, cultivating the soil, and amending tree beds with locally-made compost and mulch to help them thrive in our urban environment.

Please wear sun protection, closed-toed shoes and bring a water bottle with you. We will provide water, snacks, gloves, and gardening tools.

Designed for mothers, fathers or caregivers and babies eight weeks old to crawling, this yoga class brings families together for a gentle exercise session in a beautiful garden setting. Stretch, breathe and bond with your child while meeting other parents Led by certified instructors from Yoga for Bliss. Mats provided.

Take a break with an eclectic selection of favorite tabletop games for free. From Scrabble and mancala to dominoes and Jenga. Visit bryantpark.org to find weekly Game Socials and Clinics for Board and Party Games, Mah Jongg, and more.

Rockaway!, a free public arts festival sponsored by the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) to celebrate the reopening of Fort Tilden and recognize the ongoing recovery of the Rockaway peninsula, opens June 29 and continues through September 1, 2014. Invited by the Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA), an association of artists based in and around the Rockaways, and the JBRPC, MoMA PS1 has assisted and supported the conception of this festival.

One component of the festival is a group exhibition organized in collaboration with the Honolulu Biennial on the grounds of the newly restored Rockaway Beach Surf Club on Beach 87th Street in Rockaway Beach. Following Hurricane Sandy, the Surf Club was the one of the largest relief centers on the peninsula; their organization facilitated and directed over 5,000 volunteers, with major contributions from MoMA PS1. The exhibition celebrates the efforts of the Rockaway community of surfers and artists in rebuilding their neighborhood.

For details and times of the rest of the exhibit, please visit the Rockaway! website.

Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, is back with an irresistible novel titled The Vacationers about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca.

Rain information: In case of rain, events are held under a tent at the Reading Room. In case of severe weather, please check bryantpark.org for the indoor location.

Pre-registration online is required. Registration will open one month prior to tournament date. If space allows, then on-site registration will open at 6:00 p.m. Please check-in with attendant when you arrive for the tournament. Registration will close, and spots will be turned over to wait-listed registrants, beginning at 6:20 p.m. We will begin promptly at 6:30p.m.

Tournament dates: May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1
*Registration for each tournament will open one month in advance.

Enjoy original music from NYC's most talented singer-songwriters and bands, curated by two acclaimed musicians: inventive and Obie Award-winning Ethan Lipton, and East African vocalist and SONY/OKeh recording artist Somi.

Find refuge from city life with a blissful yoga class! Reduce your stress levels and increase energy by working with your body and breath. This sunset session is led by Yoga for Bliss instructor Joanne Salomone. All levels welcome. Sessions are held outdoors, indoors in inclement weather. Call (718) 549-3200 x245 by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the class for program updates. A limited number of mats are available onsite, please bring your own mat. Drop-ins will be accommodated as space permits. Participants must present their Member’s ID card or a printed program registration form at the front gate.

Capoeira is a unique Brazilian art form that has evolved over centuries into an exciting combination of martial arts, dance, music, and acrobatics. Some of capoeira’s benefits include strength, flexibility, stamina, overall fitness and confidence. Benefits of capoeira for kids include promoting social interaction and sense of belonging, building confidence, discipline and self esteem, promoting a healthy lifestyle so children become active, and healthy, and develop cultural awareness and tolerance. Wear comfortable clothing.

Capoeira was developed in Brazil, but its history extends to Africa and tribes from Angola. Slaves living on Brazilian Plantations who weren’t allowed to openly practice traditional forms of self-defense developed an ingenious method of disguising their training by combining it with dance-like movements, singing, and the rhythms of primitive instruments.

Learn more about superstar minister Henry Ward Beecher, who gave voice to freedom and home to the Underground Railroad in 1850s Brooklyn. Tour led by Lois Rosebrooks, Director History Ministry Services.

Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a mini tour of one of Wave Hill’s magnificent gardens. Tours vary by week; come back on another evening for a glimpse of a different garden area!

Gardens are open until 8:30 p.m. Wave Hill House, Perkins Visitor Center, Glyndor Gallery, The Café and The Shop at Wave Hill are open until 7:30 p.m. Order dinner from Wave Hill exclusive caterer Great Performances, and you have the makings of a superb summer evening. Stick around for Sunset Wednesdays music performances.

There is a free shuttle service to and from Metro-North and the #1 subway. No guest passes or reciprocal admission accepted.

A high point of each Sunset Wednesday includes a live performance on the grassy expanse of the Great Lawn, overlooking the majestic Palisades. Caracumbe is an Afro-Peruvian ensemble, an extraordinary assemblage of professional dancers and musicians, many former members of the famed Peru Negro Ballet. Directed by master percussionist Marcos Napa, the group exemplifies a compelling artistic tradition with its rich blend of traditional music and dance. For Sunset Wednesdays, the ensemble of six is singer, guitar player, two percussionists—on cajon and congas—and two dancers. Dances often performed include the festejo, lando and zamacueca.

Join Urban Bush Women as they celebrate their 30th anniversary year with an evening of special performances that showcase the best of the company's repertoire as well as a SummerStage premiere.

Founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women (UBW) seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. The company presents this from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora community in order to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond. UBW continues to use dance as both the message and the medium to bring together diverse audiences through innovative choreography, community collaboration and artistic leadership development.

The company will premiere Chalabati, a new work choreographed by Zollar, with choreographic assistance by Maria Bauman for dance students at Virginia Commonwealth University, Florida State University, and recently Southern Methodist University. Chalabati is a work that explores journey, memory and ritual retelling of a shared history. Inspired by the music of the Gnawa people (Morocco), the piece will explore a community coming together to remind itself of its strength, power and generosity.

Laurie M. Taylor is the Artistic Director of "Laurie M. Taylor/Soul Movement " (LMTSM). As movement storytellers, LMTSM delves deep into the emotional truth and wit of the human experience. Taylor's choreographic approach is based on “sound perception,” showing how rhythm, tone and the "feel" of music can be physically embodied and expressed through dance. Fusions of Jazz, African Diaspora and Hip-Hop sensibility mesh together through Taylor's rich Liberian and American (the American South) background, rendering a grounded, curvilinear contemporary dance style. LMTSM's repertory explores a full spectrum of experiences, whether it be the courageousness lunch counter sit-ins of the late 1950’s, or being caught up in whirlwind of love and passion. For Taylor, music is the primary impulse for movement, and she has formed close collaborations with many musical partners including EMMY-winning/composer Darin Atwater, GRAMMY-winning Blue Note recording Artist Derrick Hodge (Robert Glasper Experiment), arranger/violinist Stephanie Matthews (String Candy, Sphinx Organization). Her work continues to engage new audiences both in and beyond the dance world, setting the tone for a fresh wave of choreographers who wish to remove the veil between the performer and the audience. #SOULMOVEMENT.

Laurie M. Taylor/Soul Movement will perform the critically acclaimed "Overcomer's Suite," featuring the music of Jazz icons John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. Using late 1950's and early 60's sit-ins as an entry way, this piece explores the larger narrative of what it looks like to triumph, and even celebrate, in the aftermath of traumatic situations. Taylor will also render and excerpt of her latest work "Realized," laced over the grooves of Janelle Monet's "Ghetto Woman."

Hamish Linklater and Tony® nominee Lily Rabe return to the Park this summer as the wise-cracking, would-be lovers Beatrice and Benedick in the beloved romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Central Park becomes sun-drenched Sicily at the turn of the last century, where the heat of summer ignites the fevered passions of lovesick ladies in corsets and pining gentlemen spying from the verandah. Three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien directs this delightful skirmish of wit between two self-declared bachelors tricked by their mischief-making friends into falling in love against their will and in spite of their own hearts.

New York's most treasured summer tradition, Free Shakespeare in the Park, celebrates its 52nd season in Central Park's famous Delacorte Theater. Love and madness, laughter and tragedy combine for a uniquely thrilling season of exciting theater and exceptional performances under the stars. Join over 5 million people who have enjoyed The Public Theater's free performances and experience the heights of romance and the depths of duplicity in a setting unlike any other, in the heart of Manhattan.

Free tickets to the 2014 season will once again be distributed in the Park, online via the Virtual Ticketing Lottery, and in the five boroughs of New York City. For more info on getting tickets, visit the Shakespeare in the Park tickets page.

Start your Thursday mornings getting centered with Atmananda Yoga Sequence’s Wake Up Yoga during Summer in the Square. Atmananda Yoga Sequence was inspired by a vision of community to create a haven where people can quiet their minds. The yoga studio specializes in Vinyasa yoga, which helps to promote proper alignment, and a deeper understanding of practice and well being. Every Thursday at 7 AM, one of Atmananda’s highly trained yoga instructors will lead a class on Union Square Park’s South Plaza.

Come to Fort Tryon Park and try something new. Join us on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings for one hour of walking, stretching, and strengthening exercises.

All of our fitness programs are free, led by trained professionals, and suitable for all levels. Wear comfortable clothing and bring water. Please check back for rain and weather/air advisory cancels.

For a breath of fresh air, take your workouts outdoors. Parks are becoming a logical alternative environment for those who want to add variety to their work outs, or who just don't like the gym. And, it's an affordable way to increase physical activity opportunities, because there's nothing special to build.

Exercise with a view, in natural sunlight, with green scenery all around bestows health benefits that can’t be found indoors. Scientific studies have shown that the pleasure of being outdoors for example gives your brain, psyche, and immune system an extra boost.

Please note: Fitness programs are canceled if the weather is lower than 20 degrees and when there are icy conditions. Saturday morning walks begin at 8:30 a.m.

Get familiar with our new neighbors every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. at Reebok’s CrossFit class held on Union Square Park’s South Plaza. Reebok’s CrossFit Union Square program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. Begin your mornings with this 50-minute, heart-pumping class, which will guarantee a great start to your day!

Get a sense of Queens Botanical Garden's past and how both the 1939 and 1964 New York World's Fairs influenced the Garden's development. This exhibit is created largely from the Garden's own archives with images that illustrate these important events in New York City's history.

Volunteer with us to restore and maintain the wetlands in Randall's Island Park. Projects include trail maintenance, weeding, planting, litter, and debris removal, and surveying.

Please wear closed-toe shoes such as sneakers or work boots that can get sandy, dirty, and/or muddy. Please wear clothing that can get dirty, as well. Dress appropriate for the weather including protective eye wear such as sunglasses or a hat or visor to get some shade from the sun.

In celebration of the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the World’s Fairs, Tomorrow’s World will include never before exhibited vintage images from the Parks Photo Archive and private collections that illustrate the dynamic evolution and conversion of a vast industrial wasteland into New York City's fourth largest park. The World’s Fairs propelled this transformation, while serving as defining social and cultural events for two generations. The show will also include memorabilia, as well as two zodiac animals from Paul Manship’s vandalized Armillary Sphere from the second fair.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (212) 360-8163.

In homage to the beauty of the botanical world's most bizarre flora, the New York Botanical Garden invited members of the American Society of Botanical Artists to participate in a study of the eccentric, creating works of art based on visually unusual plants chosen by the artists themselves.

View the results of their efforts, 46 captivating paintings and illustrations of exotic specimens, on display in the Ross Gallery.

The relaxation technique, somewhat like yoga, makes you feel as though you are floating on water.

You may experience yourself drifting in and out of sleep during the gentle and quiet sessions. You will gain a deeper sense of well-being and relaxation, with a better understanding of your body and how it feels. If you suffer migraines or back or neck pain, the instructor will advice you on the specific technique to alleviate the area of concern.

Mats and materials are provided. Come in loose and comfortable pants and clothing. Most people remove their shoes.

Get ready to have an amazing experience. This is a very popular class.

StoryTime comes alive with puppets, songs, and yoga poses. Karma Kids invites babies through 6 year olds (and their grownups) to help lift stories off the page as they read and play yoga together! Build literacy skills and healthy bodies in this action-packed class. Yoga StoryTime with Karma Kids happens every Thursday morning at 10 AM during Summer in the Square!

Walter Martin, multi-instrumentalist from the Walkmen, released his latest effort geared for families - We’re All Young Together, featuring collaborations with members from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, The National and former Walkmen band mate and cousin, Hamilton Leithauser.

With witty, heartfelt lyrics and inspiration from 50’s rock and roll, children and parents alike can enjoy his warm and sincere music.

Take a break with an eclectic selection of favorite tabletop games for free. From Scrabble and mancala to dominoes and Jenga. Visit bryantpark.org to find weekly Game Socials and Clinics for Board and Party Games, Mah Jongg, and more.

Summer in the Square brings a full line-up of exciting family-friendly acts to Union Square Park all summer long! Join us every Thursday on the South Plaza with Karma Kids Yoga starting at 10 a.m., followed by fun activities, face painting, shows and performances.

Join us at our all new weekly Game Socials to meet up with like-minded players interested in the same games as you. The Board Game Social features games in their classic form with a board, special pieces and a little bit of competition. Try classics like Sorry, Clue, Monopoly, or Life.

On this east-west walk you will see a hidden bench that tells time, miniature boats powered by the wind, a magnificent sculpture celebrating fresh water, and much more. The route involves a few stairs.

Rockaway!, a free public arts festival sponsored by the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) to celebrate the reopening of Fort Tilden and recognize the ongoing recovery of the Rockaway peninsula, opens June 29 and continues through September 1, 2014. Invited by the Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA), an association of artists based in and around the Rockaways, and the JBRPC, MoMA PS1 has assisted and supported the conception of this festival.

One component of the festival is a group exhibition organized in collaboration with the Honolulu Biennial on the grounds of the newly restored Rockaway Beach Surf Club on Beach 87th Street in Rockaway Beach. Following Hurricane Sandy, the Surf Club was the one of the largest relief centers on the peninsula; their organization facilitated and directed over 5,000 volunteers, with major contributions from MoMA PS1. The exhibition celebrates the efforts of the Rockaway community of surfers and artists in rebuilding their neighborhood.

For details and times of the rest of the exhibit, please visit the Rockaway! website.

Enjoy your lunch in the park with live music performed by students from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. The acoustic performances will begin at 12:30 p.m. every Thursday during Summer in the Square in the West Side seating area of the park. Take a midday break in one of the city’s great outdoor public spaces relaxing to the sounds of The New School’s very talented musicians.

Focused Fun Fitness for ages 12 and up is a combination of a low impact full body workout with various genres of dance choreography, and an emphasis on positive mental motivation and creative expression through dance.

The garden crew will be meeting regularly to maintain and revitalize the ornamental and native plantings around Sherman Creek and Swindler Cove. As part of garden crew you will help redesign and plant garden beds as well as weed, water, and dead-head in existing gardens. If you want to learn more about planting, pruning, weed identification, and other horticultural techniques join the garden crew in their weekly workdays.

For over 30 years, Peridance Capezio Center has been a core member of New York City’s dance community. Home to all styles and all levels of dance, the school provides a broad spectrum of over 250 weekly adult and children’s dance classes in a nurturing, professional environment.

Experience Peridance’s amazing performances or participate in an exhilarating dance class each Thursday during Summer in the Square, beginning at 5 p.m. on the South Plaza of Union Square Park.

The Freedom Party® is the longest running, weekly, Friday-night party in NYC history. Winner of Papermag's highly coveted award for "Best Party (People's Choice)" and runner up in URB Mag's "Best Party" (nationwide), Freedom was created in 2003 by Herbert Holler, DJ Cosi and Marc Smooth to provide a place for people from all walks of life to dance and be free. Today, it is a bona fide nightlife institution, with monthly events in both Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well. Playing a tight mix of danceable, soulful hits across all genres of music from the 60s through today, Freedom continues to fill its dance floor each week with fun, beautiful people from all over the globe looking to have an unforgettable, true NYC party experience. The Freedom Dance Party will be celebrating 11 years with a huge live outdoor dance party at SummerStage in Central Park!

Compete in this challenging sport! Shoot some hoops while making new friends. All adults are welcome, including both disabled and able-bodied athletes. Recreation Center membership is required to participate.

Get moving this summer with Brick New York’s CrossFit Bootcamp every Thursday evening at 6 p.m. in the North Plaza of Union Square Park. Utilizing CrossFit methodology throughout their training, this 45-minute class focuses on wellness and fitness with results in mind, helping you reach new heights in personal fitness. The workouts are tailored for any age and fitness level.

Run with the popular Paragon Sports Run Club every Thursday evening starting at 6:30 p.m. meeting in the North Plaza of Union Square Park. A Paragon run coach will lead the way, along with pacers to keep you on track! All levels are welcome!

Hudson Warehouse presents The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith

A farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ in order to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways.

The mission of Hudson Warehouse is to present the classics in exciting productions inspired by our past and relevant to our present day. We want to educate the novice and enthrall the well-versed. We embrace the traditional and innovative, the classical and the modern classic. Through the dedication, passion and intelligence of all our theater artists, we bring these works to life. When our work elicits a true emotional response from an audience member, this experience reaffirms that theatre is a "ware" that is essential to daily life.

Mary-Jane Lee (soprano) is in her first year of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Most recently, she was featured as Parasha in Mavra, as part of a co-production of the Met and the Juilliard School, conducted by James Levine. She has received awards from the Met’s National Council Auditions, the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation Vocal Competition, the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and the Dallas Opera Guild Competition.

Ginger Costa-Jackson (mezzo-soprano) is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and a Samling Scholar. She made her Met debut in the Opening Night Gala of the 2008–09 season and has since appeared in the Met premiere of Nixon in China, new productions of Thaïs and Manon, and in Cavalleria Rusticana, Lulu, La Fanciulla del West, Carmen, and Francesca da Rimini. Next season, she will appear in Xavier Montsalvatge’s El Gato con Botas with Gotham Chamber Opera in New York and return to the Met as Lola in a new production of Cavalleria Rusticana.

Yunpeng Wang (baritone) is in his first year of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. This past season, he was featured as Fieramosca in Benvenuto Cellini as part of a co-production of the Met and the Juilliard School, conducted by James Levine. He was a first prize–winner in the Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition at the Manhattan School of Music in 2013 and recently won the Second Place Prize, the Zarzuela Prize, and the Audience Award at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia World Opera Competition.

Dan Saunders is increasingly well known to audiences around the world as an accomplished conductor and pianist. An assistant conductor to James Levine and Seiji Ozawa and a recitalist with many of the world's finest soloists, he served as the associate conductor of the Virginia Opera from 2000 until 2006 and is currently an assistant conductor with the Met. This past season, he served on the music staff for Met productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Fledermaus, and Arabella.

Wind down after a long day with a 50-minute Om Factory yoga class every Thursday starting at 7 p.m. on the North Plaza of Union Square Park. Vinyasa, which translates from Sanskrit to “flow” or “move in a special way,” merges movement with the breath. Flowing through sequences of synchronized breathing warms the body, allowing the practitioner to move deeper into postures and, over time, deeper into their personal practice. The class serves students at any level of experience from the yoga novice to the regular practitioner.

Hamish Linklater and Tony® nominee Lily Rabe return to the Park this summer as the wise-cracking, would-be lovers Beatrice and Benedick in the beloved romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Central Park becomes sun-drenched Sicily at the turn of the last century, where the heat of summer ignites the fevered passions of lovesick ladies in corsets and pining gentlemen spying from the verandah. Three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien directs this delightful skirmish of wit between two self-declared bachelors tricked by their mischief-making friends into falling in love against their will and in spite of their own hearts.

New York's most treasured summer tradition, Free Shakespeare in the Park, celebrates its 52nd season in Central Park's famous Delacorte Theater. Love and madness, laughter and tragedy combine for a uniquely thrilling season of exciting theater and exceptional performances under the stars. Join over 5 million people who have enjoyed The Public Theater's free performances and experience the heights of romance and the depths of duplicity in a setting unlike any other, in the heart of Manhattan.

Free tickets to the 2014 season will once again be distributed in the Park, online via the Virtual Ticketing Lottery, and in the five boroughs of New York City. For more info on getting tickets, visit the Shakespeare in the Park tickets page.

Fans of every genre of music will find a favorite artist in “GMA’s” summer concerts, with music from the worlds of pop, rock, country, alternative, electronic dance music and hip-hop.

The 2014 Summer Concert Series returns for the sixth year to Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, home of the SummerStage festival, where music’s biggest names will perform live every Friday. All concerts are free to the public (note: the Jennifer Lopez and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson concerts will be free, ticketed events) and will take place live during “Good Morning America,” Fridays from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. ET.

For information on how to attend a summer concert in Central Park, click on the “GMA” website at gmaconcerts.com.

Get fresh, local and seasonal produce, nuts, coffee, and nut butters from the Farmer's Market! Every Friday, June 20 to November 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Dahlia Avenue off Main Street, outside the Garden fence.

In homage to the beauty of the botanical world's most bizarre flora, the New York Botanical Garden invited members of the American Society of Botanical Artists to participate in a study of the eccentric, creating works of art based on visually unusual plants chosen by the artists themselves.

View the results of their efforts, 46 captivating paintings and illustrations of exotic specimens, on display in the Ross Gallery.

Take a break with an eclectic selection of favorite tabletop games for free. From Scrabble and mancala to dominoes and Jenga. Visit bryantpark.org to find weekly Game Socials and Clinics for Board and Party Games, Mah Jongg, and more.

Get a sense of Queens Botanical Garden's past and how both the 1939 and 1964 New York World's Fairs influenced the Garden's development. This exhibit is created largely from the Garden's own archives with images that illustrate these important events in New York City's history.